When Washington re-signed Karl Alzner to a two-year, $2.57 million deal the most stunning part of the contract was how cheaply it was and with how few years it came attached with it. Capitals GM George McPhee chalked it up as another cap management victory this summer and those watching things around the league were left amazed for a couple of reasons. Not only was McPhee able to keep one of his young stud defensive stoppers, he was able to do it without outside interference in the form of an offer sheet.

Last year we saw one restricted free agent signed to an offer sheet as Sharks GM Doug Wilson tried to take advantage of the Blackhawks poor salary cap situation by signing Niklas Hjalmarsson to a four-year $14 million offer sheet. The Blackhawks didn’t blink at the Sharks move and matched it before they ultimately parted ways with Antti Niemi. While there were no hard feelings between Wilson and Hawks GM Stan Bowman, it makes us wonder why a similar poaching move wasn’t made on Alzner this summer. After all, the Capitals were up against the salary cap and the seemingly small deal they got Alzner locked up to put them over the cap just slightly by over $800,000.

Barry explained that the team initially cited comparables in a $1.2 million to $1.4 million range for the second year while he sought something in a higher range closer to $1.9 million to $2 million. They ultimately agreed to $1.75 million for the second year, which was combined with the qualifying offer of $826,895 and then spread out over the duration of the deal, Barry said.

“Our valuation of 1.75 puts him in the higher range of guys who have his experience and play those minutes as a shutdown defensemen, so I’m pleased with that,” Barry said. “At the same time, we’re fully aware that we think Karl has an excellent future and if he continues on this path he’ll be in a whole different class” when this contract expires.

Alzner himself said that there were no other teams that made an offer to him. While that’s stunning to hear as Alzner’s a guy with a bright future to go and still just 22 years-old, it leaves us thinking that anyone hoping that either fellow restricted free agents Drew Doughty of L.A. and Steve Stamkos of Tampa Bay will sign offer sheets will be left disappointed.

While the Lightning are still about $15 million off the cap with Teddy Purcell yet to re-sign as well, should a monster offer come through to Stamkos the Lightning undoubtedly would match, but owing a ton of money to three players in Stamkos, Vincent Lecavalier, and Martin St. Louis would make their payroll questions tough ones in the future.

With the possibility of cap roll backs and other new CBA worries next year getting a smart deal done for both players is important for both the Kings and Lightning. For other teams looking to potentially put the screws to them, it’s a missed opportunity that makes you wonder if there’s some kind of collusion going on not to screw each other over with labor peril and new rules to follow on the horizon.

That’s a lofty and nasty allegation, of course, but with prime talent like Doughty and Stamkos there, potentially, for the taking and seemingly no offers coming in for either player it makes you wonder why opposing GMs wouldn’t be huddling with their own capologists to figure something out to land a premiere young NHL star.

The business side of the NHL is obviously not something us couch jockeys are very savvy with, but boiling it all down to seeing two top talents dangling in restricted free agent purgatory belonging to teams with enough cap space to burn to take care of both players and remaining unsigned with no action from other teams is baffling to us.

We’re not sure if that means former Oilers GM Kevin Lowe made it impossible for teams to feel comfortable signing restricted free agents with any tact after his overzealous work in signing Dustin Penner and Thomas Vanek to obscenely large offer sheets in the past, but Doughty and Stamkos are no-brainer superstars and if a team was willing to sacrifice the draft picks necessary to sign them and pay up accordingly with the money, why wouldn’t a team roll the dice and take a shot?

Apparently these days if you’re not going to take a shot at a guy destined to make up to $2 million per season, going after guys set to make up to or more than $7 million a year is an absolute non-starter. After the kinds of stupid money we’ve seen thrown around all summer, it leaves our heads shaking at the insanity of it all around. With this sort of craziness, the only people that are happy about it are Lightning GM Steve Yzerman and Kings GM Dean Lombardi.

While everyone is focused on Steve Stamkos and his ongoing restricted free agent contract talks in Tampa Bay, there’s another premiere restricted free agent making his team sweat things out. Los Angeles defenseman Drew Doughty is tied in negotiations with Kings GM Dean Lombardi about just what he’s going to do about keeping him long term.

Doughty was a Norris Trophy finalist in 2010 and at age 21 going on 22, he’s got a long and illustrious career staring him in the face. It’s a career that could see him rank out as one of the top five defensemen in the league for the next ten years at least. While his 2010 season was outstanding, his 2011 saw him come back to earth a bit. While he was still good, he wasn’t great and the kind of deal he’s looking for from the Kings is a career-changing offer.

“I am getting the feeling on Drew that unfortunately this could take a while. As we just saw this past week free agency produces a frenzy for players at all levels. We must be judicious about not getting into this market for our own players. Therefore it is critical with Drew that the dollars reflect a fair rate of return regarding the term of the contract. We must be prepared to do what it takes to get it right.”

Lombardi also said the Kings would match any offer sheet Doughty might sign with another team. It’s unlikely any team would make an offer of a magnitude that would entice Doughty away, because paying him that much money would leave that team little room to pay the support players necessary to build a winner. Also, Doughty grew up a Kings fan.

The helpful part of being a restricted free agent is that there’s no real timeline aside from the start of training camp or the season to get a deal done by. With opposing teams reluctant to push the issue and sign those players to offer sheets, teams owning their rights aren’t threatened to move faster to get a deal done. The Kings have enough cap space to not be scared by potential poaching and that’s why you’ve got things dragging out now. Dragging out being relative term here.

While the chances are slim that Doughty will get poached by another team with an offer sheet, getting the deal done and done right is important for both sides, especially the Kings. Signing him up to a potential cap-crippling deal does no one any favors. Dean Lombardi’s done things smart before and they’ll get things right with Doughty, just don’t go holding your breath over it.